A ten year outlook on technology

Abstract

Each year the IBM Research Division prepares a report on technology known as the Ten Year Outlook. This is based on the researchers' perspectives on where technology will go during the next ten years, how this will affect people and institutions and the competitive environment in the information industry. The year 2000 is only five years away and we can make pretty accurate projections of where technology will be at the end of the twentieth century. In an industry that is as dynamic as ours it is much more difficult to project progress over a ten year horizon and it is particularly hard to foresee how this progress will translate into societal and institutional changes. As Yogi Berra, a famous American baseball player and amateur philosopher, said, "the future isn't what it used to be". Our challenge is to make it what we want it to be.<>